Stapling machine



Patented Jan. 20, 1953 UNITED STATES ATENT' OFFICE 's'rAPLiNG Thomas J. Finn, West RoxburiyMass. Application February 12, 19552; sesame. 271,176

(or; l Z) 7 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in stapling machines and relates more particularly to stapling machines of the general type suitable for attaching buckles to straps or to other flexible elements or flexible sheets.

In the shoe industry, and more especially in the manufacture of womens and childrens shoes, the attachment of buckles to straps, or to other portions of shoe uppers, has involved problems which the prior buckle-attaching mechanisms and procedures have not been able to solve in any satisfactory or adequate manner. Buckles are attached either by stitching or by staples, and the requirement for a stitched or stapled securement of a buckle at two locations on opposite sides of the pivoted tongue'of the buckle, has made it necessary for the operator of a sewing machine, or a prior stapling machine, to manually shift the work following completion of a securement at one side of the buckle tongue, preparatory to efiecting the second securement at the other side of the tongue. This not only has consumed valuable time but has required the operator to manually shift the work laterally on the supporting anvil in proper timed relation to the next descent of the sewing machine needle or the next staple-driving operation of a stapling machine. Actually, buckles frequently have become attached in a skewed relation to a strap. Also, due to the difficulties the operator en counters in properly gauging the amount of each lateral shifting of the work needed to get the second securement in proper relation to the tongue of any particularbuckle, and in properly timing the shift with relation-to the next descent of the needle of a sewing machine, or the next stapledrivin' operation of a stapling machine, sewing machine needles-frequently become broken by coming in contact with buckle tongues and pivot bars, and staples frequently are destroyed or misdirected by coming in contact with those same elements when buckles are being attached by stapling machines. In either case, further time is lost to correct the difficulty and to remove any improperly introduced stitches or staples. However, even the correctly accomplished buckle securements', attained with the prior stitching and stapling machines in accordance with prior buckle-attaching procedures, have been objectionable in that the stitched securements frequently provide discomiorting hard masses of thread at the inner side of the upper material which comes next to the foot'of the wearer of a shoe. Also, when buckles are stitched on, the secnring threads frequently break after a relatively short period o'f useof a shoe, making it necessary to re-securea bucklor' to replace a lost buckle. When buckles'have been stapled to shoe uppers, the more common procedurehasbeen to clinch the staplesat the inner surface of'the upper material whichborhes next to the foot of the wearer ofa shoe, and there is always danger that an imperfectly driven and clinched staple will have an exposed end or a burr capablof injuring a foot in the shoe or of sna'gging'and'causing a run in the wearers stocking. Prior stapled-0n buckles also have been subject to loosening and fallhis off'.

While efforts have been made heretofore to efiectively attach shoe buckles by means of staples driven through shoupper material so that the bridges of crowns of the staples are at the inner surfaceof the'uppenmaterial which eomes'next tdthe foot of a wearer of the shoe, n one'prior to'my present inventiomso far as I am aware; has been able to accomplish this desirable'" end' in any practicably acceptable manner so 'far as'outward appearance of the attached buckles is"conc'erne'dand so far as facility of eifcting the'stapled attachments of the buckles, on principles of mass production-of shoes, is concerned.

Hence, it is among the objects of my present invention to provide a stapling machine whereby shoe buckles may be effectively stapled to shoe upper-materials with utmost assurance that any partioular'buckle' will be' secured by two generally parallel successively driven staples in a predetermined'pre'cise spaced relation on opposite sides of the-pivoted tongue of the buckle; In accordance 'with the teachings'of my invention, an operator merely holds the portion of-a shoe upper to which a buckle is to be attached in proper relation to a; buckle on a supporting anvil while effecting two staple-driving operations of a stapling machine, and the anvil automatically shifts the work in precisely timed relation to the second staple-driving operation of the machine, thereby to precisely locate the first and second staples in predetermined spacedparallelism at opposite sides of the pivoted tongue of the buckle.

Another object of the invention-is 'to-provide a stapling'rnachine for attaching buckles to shoe uppers, wherein an anvil is designed to directly support a buckle with a portion of its pivot bar, which is toone' side of the pivoted tongue of the buckle, oppositethe staple delivering nose of the stapling machine, whereby the first of two staples deliveredthrough said nose'in rapid succession is clinchedaroundsaidportion of the pivot bar of the buckle, the anvil shifting automatically following clinching of the first-delivered staple to bring a second portion of the pivot bar, which is to the opposite side of the pivoted tongue of the buckle, opposite the staple delivering nose of the machine prior to delivery of the second staple, whereby the second of the two staples is clinched around said second portion of the pivot bar of the buckle. v

A further obiect of my invention is to provide a buckle stapling machine having an anvil for directly supporting a buckle under a staple-delivering head with space between the buckle and head for insertion o a strap or other flexible work piece upon the buckle, whereby a staple driven from said head throu h the strap, or other work piece, mav be clinched around a part of the buckle with the bridge or crown of the staple at one side of the strap, or other work piece, and with the buckle secured to the other side by legs of the staples wh ch are clinched in parallelism and whose poin ed ends are turned into and embedded in the material of the strap. or other work piece, at that side to which the buckle is secured.

It is. moreover. my pur ose and object generally to improve stapling machines and stapling procedures. and more especially such machines and procedures which are suitable for sta l ng buckles to strap portions of shoe uppers, and the like.

In t e accomnanving drawing:

Fi l is a side elevation of a. stapling machine e bodving features of my invention, the machine be n for the most part in medial vertical cross-section;

Fi 2 is a top plan view of the anvil and the forward portion of its sup orting lever, parts of the su orting lever being broken away;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view on line 33 of Fi 2, on a larger scale, and showing the stapledeli ering nose. a buckle and strap, and a staple in clinched relation to the buckle and strap;

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional View on line 4--4 of Fig. 3, showing two clinched staples on opposite sides of the pivoted ton ue of the buckle; and

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view on line 5-5 of Fig. l. on the scale of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing, the invention is illustrated as embodied in a buckle-stapling machine having a staple forming head in which is adapted to deliver formed staples in succession through the nose l2 of the head, as more particularly described in my Patent No. 2,417,817, dated March 25. 1947, to which reference is made for a description of the staple forming and staple driving mechanism within the head [0, and of suitable means (not herein shown) for advancing a strand of wire intermittently into the head from a supply reel. It should be understood, however, that the illustrated head I is representative of stapling machine heads in general which are adapted to drive staples in succession, in conjunction with a work-supporting and stapleclinching anvil.

Head i0 is mounted on an upper forwardlyprojecting hollow part 14 of a hollow base standard l which may rest on a bench 18, or other suitable support. A generally horizontally disposed power shaft 28 is rotatable within the forwardly projecting hollow part 14 of the base standard, and has a cam 22 fixed on its forward end, within the head ID, for actuating the staple forming, staple driving and wire feeding means as disclosed in my said patent.

The rear end portion of power shaft extends out of hollow part 14 and is equipped with a clutch mechanism 24 by means of which the power shaft may be operatively connected at will for rotation with a pulley 26 which may be beltdriven from any suitable source of power. The clutch mechanism 24 may be controlled by an actuating member 28 whose lower end may be operatively connected for pedal actuation by the operator of the machine.

According to the invention, a clinching anvil, indicated generally at 30, is mounted for reciprocation at the forward portion of arm 32a of a bellcrank lever 32. The bell-crank lever is pivotally mounted at 34 within the base standard l6, and the arm 32a of the bell-crank extends forwardly through an opening 36 in the forward wall of the base standard I 6 to a location below the delivery nose l2 of head 10. The other and shorter arm 32b of the bell-crank extends upwardly within the base standard and preferably is equipped at its upper end with a roller 33 which is in coacting relation with a cam 38 fixed on the power shaft 20.

Bell-crank lever 32 is of rugged construction for withstanding the substantial stresses imposed upon it. As best seen in Fig. 2, its arm 32a has considerable width, and its forward end portion is grooved longitudinally at its upper side, as at 40, and an anvil carrying member 42 is slidably mounted in the groove and is retained therein by a bolt 44 which extends through the rear end portion of member 42, through a slot 46 in the bottom wall of groove 40, and through the forward end of a second slidably mounted member 48 to which it is secured by nut on the end of bolt 44. Member 48 is mounted in a relatively shallow longitudinal groove 50 in the under side of arm 32a of bell-crank lever 32 at the rearward portion of its extent and is further retained, slidably, in groove 50, by a screw 52 which passes loosely through a slot 54 in member 48 and is screwed into the arm 32a, with a washer 56 preferably intervening between the head of screw 52 and the adjacent surface of member 48. The two slidably mounted members 42 and 48 thus are mounted in connected relation on arm 32a for sliding movements as a unit relative to arm 32a of the bell-crank.

The anvil-carrying slidable member 42 constantly is biased toward the limit of its forward movement in groove 40 by a coil spring 58 which is under compression between the rear end of slidable member 42 and an upstanding part 32' on'l'ever arm 32a. Preferably, this forward limit of movement of member 42 is made adjustable by means of a relatively long threaded rod or pin 60 about which spring 58 is coiled, one end of the rod or pin 60 being fixed at 62 to the rear end of slidable member 42. The rod or pin extends from its securement at 62 through spring 58 and loosely through a hole 64 in the upstanding part 32 of lever arm 320;, with a finger nut 68 screwed on the projecting threaded end portion of rod or pin 60 and engaging the part 32' of lever arm 32a. Preferably, a second finger nut 68 on the rod or pin 60 serves as a lock nut.

The clinching anvil 30 is shown removably secured to the forward end of slidable member 42 by the two screws 70 and is steadied on slidable member 42, in the illustrated embodiment, by being seated in a groove 12 in the upper side of member 42. Actually, the illustrated clinching anvil 30 is especially designed for directly supporting buckles in the process of stapling the buckles to flexible elements, such as to straps or other portions of shoe uppers, for example. The

anvil has two similar -staple-clinchi-ng portions 30a, 30b spaced apart in the-direction of extent of the anvil on -the slidable member 4-2 to'prov-ide a groove 30 between themfor accommodating the tongue of a buckle placed ontheanvil. In Fig. 2,'-a buckle B-- is shown mounted on anvil 30 with its tongue T-extending at the under sideof the buckle and positioned within the anvil groove 30. A strap portion of a shoe upper is represented by dotted outline at S in Fig. 2 and is shown by full lines, on a larger scale, in Figs. 3 and 4. In the process of stapling the buckle to such a strap portion, the operator places the strap portion S on the buckle B between the supported buckle and the nose ll of the staple-delivering head Ill so that the bridge of each driven staple is at the upper side of the strap portion and the buckle is secured to the under side ofthe. strap portion.

The tpngue T of buckle Bis pivotally mounted in a customary mannerv on the usual centrally disposed pivot bar B of the buckle and thispivot bar B, when the buckle is placed on anvil 3B, is disposed transversely of anvil groove 38 with the buckle tongue T in groove 30 and with portions of the pivot bar B, on opposite sides of tongue T, resting respectively across the clinching portions 38a and 36b of the anvil. Preferably, the clinching portions 30a, 3%, are provided with the shallow transverse notches 300 in which the pivot bar B seats to facilitate proper centering of the buckle relative to the clinching portions of the anvil.

Each clinching portion 38a, 39b of the anvil has a groove BM in its upper face with walls for engaging and clinching the legs of driven staples and, according to the invention, after a buckle B has been arranged on the anvil 30, as in Fig. 2, and while a strip portion S is held by the operator on and in proper relation to the buckle, the staple-clinching portion 30a will be under the nose l2 of head It], in position for a first-delivered staple to be driven through strip portion S andto be clinched, by clinching portion 38a, around the pivot bar 30' of the buckle to theleft of buckle tongue T, as viewed in Fig. 2. However, before said first staple can be driven, bell-crank lever 32 is rocked slightly by cam 38 counter-clockwise in Fig. l,-to bring anvil 30, and the work thereon, into coacting relation to nose l2.

As soon as said first staple is driven and clinched, the anvil andwork drop a little away from nose l2 as the bell-crank roller 33 rides from the high side of cam 33 into engagement with an adjustable stop M which limits the amount that the anvil 38 can move in direction away from nose 12. The bell-crank is gravityactuated clockwise, in Fig. l, to bring the arm 32b into engagement with stop 14. Following this dropping away of anvil 3i) and the supported work, and before cam 38 again rocks the bellcrank to move theanvil a second time toward nose I2, the anvil is actuated to the left in Fig. 1 to bring clinching portion 30b under the nose. l2. The work on the anvil moves with the anvil to bring that portion of pivot bar 3i! of the buckle which is to the right of tongue T, as viewed in Fig. 2, under nose l2. Hence, as anvil 30 moves upward a second time toward nose 12, the second staple is driven through strip portion S and is clinched by clinching portion 301) around the pivot bar 39 of the buckle to the right of tongue T.

The mentioned actuation of anvil 30 to the left in Fig. 1 is accomplished by a cam 16, or

the like, which is =fi-xed-ona shaft 18 mounted low down within the base standard l6. Shaft 18 is driven from power shaft 20 by any suitable drive means such as the illustrated chain engaging around a sprocket 82 fixed on power shaft 20 and a sprocket 84 fixed on shaft 18. The sprocket 82 has one-half the diameterof sprocket 84, and cam 38 on power shaft 20 similarly has one-half the diameter of cam 16 on shaft 18. Hence, cam 38 makes two complete rotations, and effects two movements of anvil 3!! toward nose l2, while cam 16 on shaft 18 is making one complete rotation.

Slide member 48 at the under side of lever arm 32a has a rigid depending portion 48a whose lower end preferably is equipped with a roller 4% in coacting relation to cam 1E, and the high part of the cam 16- is designed to force roller 48b to the left in Fig. 1 during alternate movements of anvil 3i! toward nose l2. Inasmuch as depending portion sea is rigid on slide member 48, and slide member as is connected by bolt M-to anvil-carrying slide member 42, the anvil 30 is moved to the left in Fig. l, with compression of spring 58, each time that roller 48b is forced to the'left by cam 16, and spring 58 restores anvil 30 to its original position as soon as roller 48b leaves the high part of cam 76.

It is a feature of the invention that each of two staples driven in relatively rapid succession become accurately positioned automatically on opposite sides of the buckle tongue and become clinched around the: pivot bar of the buckle in a superior manner. Referring more particularly to Fig. 3, wherein the first of two buckle-securing staples is shown clinched around the pivot bar B of buckle B, it will be seen that the staple driver l3 indents thebridge or crown of the staple into the strap member Sat that side of strap member S which is opposite the side to which buckle B is secured, and that each leg of the staple is clinched around pivot bar B to an extent whereby the pointed end of each leg is driven into and embedded in the material of strap member S, with the clinched legs in side-by-sid'e relation in groove 39d of clinching portion 30a of anvil 30. An extremely strong stapled securement of buckle B' is thus attained with a relatively smooth upper surface of strap portion S, in Fig. 3; which is the inner surface of the strap member when in use in a shoe, for exampla The pointed ends of the staple legs are embedded in the strap portion S at its under and outer side whereby they cannotharm a foot or snag hosiery, or otherwise cause discomfort or damage to whatever may be in contact with the side of strap portion S which is the inner side in service.

Fig. dis a: cross-sectional view on line- 45 of Fig. 3 showing the anvil 3B moved to :the left from its' dotted line position, following driving and clinching of the first staple, which is shown clinched in groove 38d of clinching portion 30a. of the anvil, and showing the second staple: driven and clinched in groove 38d of clinching portion-.3511 of the anvil. As-soonas the anvil and work, as represented in Fig. 4, drops away from nose 1?, spring 58 returns anvil iii; to the right to again position clinching portion 35a under nose I2, as represented in Fig. 1, after which the completed work is removed and another buckle Bland strap portion S may be arranged on the anvil and the disclosed double stapling procedure "repeated;

It is intended that the patent shall cover, by suitable expression in the appended claims, whatever features of patentable novelty exist in the invention disclosed.

I claim as my invention:

1. A stapling machine having, in combination, a fixed staple-delivering head, means operative within said head for driving staples in rapid succession from the head, a support mounted for movement in directions toward and from the staple-delivering portion of said head, a worksupporting clinching anvil movably mounted on said support and having two spaced stapleclinching portions thereon, mechanism for moving said support and the anvil toward and from said head a plurality of times in rapid succession and in timed relation to the delivery of successive staples from the head, and means for rapidly reciprocating said anvil and the work thereon between two positions on said support to bring said two clinching portions of the anvil alternately into clinching relation to successively delivered staples.

2. A stapling machine having, in combination, a fixed staple-delivering head, means operative within said head for driving staples in rapid succession from the head, a support mounted for movement in directions toward and from the staple-delivering portion of said head, a worksupporting clinching anvil slidable on said support and having two spaced staple-clinching portions thereon, mechanism for moving said support toward and from said head a plurality of times in rapid succession thereby to move the anvil intermittently into clinching relation to successively delivered staples, and means opera tive to rapidly reciprocate the slidably mounted anvil on said support to bring said two stapleclinching portions of the anvil alternately into clinching relation to successively delivered staples.

3. A stapling machine comprising, in combination, a fixed staple-delivering head, means operative within said head for driving staples in rapid succession from the head, a staple clinching anvil in coacting relation to the delivery portion of said head and having two spaced relatively fixed clinching portions thereon, a support for said anvil movable toward and from said delivery portion of the head, means for moving said support toward said head each time that a staple is to deliver from said head thereby to move the anvil into clinching relation to each delivered staple, and means operative to rapidly reciprocate said anvil on its said support in directions to bring said staple-clinching portions of the anvil alternately into said clinching relation to successively delivered staples.

4. A stapling machine comprising, in combination, a head with a fixed staple-delivering nose, means operative to drive staples in rapid succession through said nose, a staple-clinching anvil disposed opposite said nose, a pivotally mounted support for said anvil, means for rocking said support in direction to move said anvil toward said nose each time that a staple is to be driven through said nose whereby the anvil clinches each driven staple, said anvil having a plurality of spaced staple-clinching portions thereon and being slidably retained on its said pivotally mounted support, and means for rapidly reciprocating the anvil on its said support thereby to clinch successively driven staples by different ones of said plurality of staple-clinching portions of the anvil.

5. A stapling machine comprising, in combination, a fixed staple-delivering head with means for driving formed staples in rapid succession through the delivery portion of said head, a combined work support and clinching anvil disposed opposite said delivery portion of said head, a pivoted support for said anvil, means for rocking said support to move the anvil and work thereon toward said head each time that a staple is to be driven thereby to bring said anvil into clinching relation to each driven staple, said anvil having two separated staple-clinching portions thereon and being movable between two predetermined positions on its said support, and means for rapidly shifting said anvil on its support from one to the other of said positions following clinching of each driven staple whereby each of said staple-clinching portions of the anvil clinches alternate ones of successively driven staples.

6. A buckle-stapling machine comprising, in combination, a fixed staple-delivering head with means for driving formed staples in rapid succession through the delivery portion of said head, a clinching anvil disposed opposite said delivery portion of said head and having a pair of stapleclinching portions with a groove between them, said anvil being adapted to directly support a buckle with the pivoted tongue of the buckle accommodated in said groove and with the pivot bar of the buckle disposed transversely across the groove with a portion crossing each of said stapleclinching portions of the anvil, a pivoted support for said anvil on which said anvil is movable between two positions, means for rocking said support toward said head each time that a staple is to be driven thereby to move said anvil to staple-clinching position, and means for moving said anvil on its said support rapidly from one to the other of its two said positions following each clinching of a driven staple whereby a first driven staple becomes clinched around a portion of said pivot bar of the buckle to one side of the buckle tongue by one of said staple-clinching portions of the anvil, and a second driven staple becomes clinched around a portion of said pivot bar to the other side of said tongue by the other of said staple-clinching portions of the anvil.

7. A power driven stapling machine comprising, in combination, a fixed staple-delivering nose with means for driving formed staples in rapid succession through said nose, means for directly supporting a buckle opposite said nose with the pivot bar for the tongue of the buckle disposed transversely of the direction of extent of the bridge part of each driven staple, said bucklesupporting means having two spaced stapleclinching portions thereon with a groove between them, and the tongue of a said buckle being accommodated by said groove when the buckle is supported with the tongue at the under side thereof, a pivoted lever having an arm on which said buckle-supporting means is movable, in the directions of extent of said pivot bar of the supported buckle, between two predetermined posi tions, means for rocking said lever to move the supported buckle toward said nose each time that a staple is to be driven, and means for moving said buckle supporting means on its said lever arm from one to the other of its said two positions following each said movement of a supported buckle toward said nose, whereby first and second driven staples become clinched around 9 said pivot bar of the buckle at opposite sides of the buckle tongue by different ones of said stapleclinching portions of the buckle supporting means.

THOMAS J. FINN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

Number 10 UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Buffum May 30, 1899 Craig Oct. 5, 1915 Pierce et a1 Apr. 22, 1919 Perkins Apr. 22, 1924 Eaton June 10, 1930 Castle Sept. 3, 1940 Fossa Feb. 15, 1949 Brehm Aug. 30, 1949 

